Press Releases Walker Presents Screening of Film and Video Works by Young Women Created with Artist-in-Residence Ericka Beckman

On Friday, June 25, 7 pm, in the Minneapolis College of Art and Design Auditorium (2501 Stevens Avenue South), the Walker Art Center presents a special screening of film and video works by young women created during workshops with Walker artist-in-residence Ericka Beckman taking place in June. This event is presented in partnership with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Admission is free.

The Walker has long encouraged women filmmakers at all stages of their careers to pick up a camera and tell their stories, from introductory classes such as Directing Divas to Girls in the Director’s Chair, part of the international festival Women with Vision. In June, several young women will work directly with filmmaker Beckman in the Walker on Wheels media lab. “I wanted to work with teen girls as a way to give to a younger age group what I’ve learned from 15 years of teaching experimental film and alternative media practices at the college level,” says Beckman. “Specifically ‘girls,’ because media, and film in particular, is thought of as a male career.”

Limited to women ages 16 to 18 who have already produced at least one film, this advanced hands-on workshop offers participants a chance to explore alternatives to conventional storytelling, produce short films, and have a public presentation of their works. “I want to offer an alternative experience—a way to think about the camera as an instrument to capture the imaginary. Each person has within them a unique vision that is a mixture of their memories and how they ‘see’ or cast their eyes out into the world.”

Beckman, a professor in the Media and Performing Arts Department at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, has been creating a new work over the last year—a video installation edited from hundreds of hours of film footage of the Walker’s construction site, which will premiere in conjunction with the opening of the Center’s expanded facility in spring 2005.

Ericka Beckman, 2004

Photo: Cameron Wittig

The Walker Art Center is a catalyst for the creative expression of artists and the active engagement of audiences.